'Rakers dropped to (wine) cellar by Shadowbrook Vineyards

WALNUT CREEK -- In an epic interlocking of 1-4 teams, the Muckrakers were bested by Shadowbrook Vineyards 9-6.

This started off optimistically enough for the newspaper lads, as they came out of the chute scoring four runs. Five singles were struck in the top-of-the-first uprising, with Bob (RBI Machine) Leal doing Hugo Hillbilly proud by driving in two with his single, and Matt Petersen and Mike Gale plating single runs.

But the Muckrakers offense was chilled, like a fine vintage red, after that. Doing most of the chilling was the Shadowbrook pitcher ..... who ..... took .... forever .... to ..... throw .... the .... damn .... ball. And of course his pitches took achingly long to cross the plate. But his icing of the Muckrakers worked, as the team collected just single runs in the third and fifth following the first-inning heroics. Tenacious defense, though, helped limit Shadowbrook to single-digit runs for the contest.

The Muckrakers did a lot of their damage at second base, with Leal and Chris Wagnon going hard into the base. The Shadowbrook second sacker was not a happy camper by game's end.

So ends the first half of the season. The Muckrakers begin the second half next Thursday in facing Acme Plumbing.